


an astrous selection (chalant)

by Gwendolyntennison



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics), Teen Titans (Animated Series), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29964063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwendolyntennison/pseuds/Gwendolyntennison
Summary: After having a close call as Batman king Bruce Wayne makes the decision to step up the time frame that his eldest Dick prepares to be king. After Dick dose some research he comes across the old tradition of the selection and decides to have one fore himself.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Zatanna Zatara, chalant - Relationship
Kudos: 4





	1. author rant

This fanfic draws mainly from the cartoon young justice, but characters from teen titans and other D.C. media also appear here as well.

I do not own these characters they are owned by D.C. comics.

This story takes place in an alternate universe where Bruce is the king of Gotham. His parents died when he was 8 years old and he took on a regent, Alfred pennyworth, who officially adopted him after two years.

When it came time for Bruce to have a selection Alfred saw how uncomfortable he was about it and changed the rules to make it optional.

Bruce never found a partner and ruled the kingdoms alone, but when a traveling circus came to the palace and young Dick Grayson's parents died he adopted the young boy insuring a heir to the throne.

Ever since then he has been adopting children left and Wright:

1). Jayson Tod the son of a palace worker who was killed in an attack on the palace by the antiheroes.

2). Tim drake a young orphan who showed great intelligence and who would make a great emissary( he also figured out Bruce was Batman but the public doesn't know that).

3). Stephany brown the daughter of a Bruce's head of guard who died protecting him.

4). Bruce also saved a young clone of him and one of the antiheroes named Damian Wayne.

Other notes:

1). Zatanna's dad was in a car crash and got amnesia three months before the beginning of the fanfic. When they where treating him they found he also had cancer, because of this they decided not to overwhelm him with everything about his life before the crash.

2). Most of the adults are hero's but the kids really aren't with the exception of Megan, star fire, and wonder girl, because they are heroes from there home world (or themyscira) that come to earth to do god.

3). I'm autistic and have always seen both Bruce and Damian as autistic as well. I'm willing to defend myself in the comments in a civil conversation, but it is 'canon' in this fanfic.

4). The selected girls can bring a friend or family member with them to the plaice to act as a 'maid' and to be there to support them.

5). Dick is 16 in this and the girls ages range from 14-18.

6) Jayson was kidnaped and tortured by the antiheroes, he didn't die but he is suffering from PTSD.

I think that's all but I might add more in later chapters.


	2. the news

Zatanna's POV 700 words.

March 5th  
___________________________

Quickly pulling my hair back Into a ponytail I grab my coat and throw it on before heading out the door. I slip my hand into my pocket to ensure that I have the money to pay the bills for my fathers hospital stay and treatment.

Even though the walk to the hospital is long I don't grab a taxi, all my money that doesn't go to food goes toward dad. As I cross an intersection I start going through the numbers. I was Barley able to scrounge up the money for this months bills and I want to be sure I can pay next month.

After starting over at least five times I reach my destination. I drop the calculations from my mind as I take my last breath of un-sanitized air before pushing open the door to the hospital and heading toward the elevator.

Once I finish walking through the maze like halls of the facility I finally reach the cancer ward. I answer the nurses questions, let her take my temperature, and put on my mask before entering the space. I walk over to a nurse siting at the main desk.

" hi my names zatanna zatara I'm hear to see my dad Giovanni, is he ready for visitors?" The nurse types something into her computer and without looking up at me waves me on. I walk down the hall to room 16.

Before I open the door I steel my nerves one last time to see my father or as he insists 'Giovanni' because friends don't need to use formality's with each other like sir.

It's was always hard to hear him talk about me as if I'm just the girl that comes to see him in the hospital but I know we can't overwhelm him with to much information at once.

"Hey Giovanni!" I say sitting down in the chair next to his bed " I brought you another puzzle book, sudoku this time." When he hears my voice he quickly turned the TV down and looks over to me.

"Zatanna! They said you might be coming today. I've been looking forward to a visit from my favorite young woman ever since then."

"Have you finished last weeks puzzle book, it was a word cross one right?" I ask drawing my attention away from his lack of memory of who I am.

"All but the last two, I thought we could race to see who could finish one faster."

"That sounds super fun let's do it." I pull the crossword puzzle book out from under the sudoku one and rip one of the pages out. I set it on the table at give him the book opened to his puzzle. We both grab a pencil from the table and get ready to start.

I look up at the clock and wait for the second hand to finish it's rotation and mark the start of a new second. As soon as it does I shouted "GO!" and get to work.

15 minutes later I fling my hand up paper firmly grasped in it and shouted

"I win!" Dad set his pencil down on the table and sighs.

"Congratulations young lady you have beat and old man at the one thing he can find joy in." I smile and lightly nudge his arm, But before I can give a witty retort a nurse comes in to change out his IV and drop of his lunch. Seeing the hunger in his eyes I turn up the sound on the TV so he can eat in peace and get ready to leave when he grabs my arm.

" listen to this" he says pointing with his free hand toward the TV.

"In other news we have received intel from the palace that the first selection In Over 50 years will be taking place soon" the news reporter says matter of factly.

"You should enter, You're a beautiful smart young girl. Richard Grayson would be lucky to have you as a wife."

I look over at my fathers shocked "w... what?"

" no really, you should. I'd be happy to have you as my queen."


	3. the decision

Dicks POV (3,012 words)

March 2nd

"We never know when it will be necessary for you to take the throne, and while you are a very bright young man you are still not fully prepared to take on that level of responsibility. furthermore you have not been able to show the public these amazing attributes and they lack faith in you." I intently listen to my fathers words as he goes on about my responsibilities as heir to the throne.

"The antiheroes could attack any time and you need to be ready to take my place if I am Injured or killed, so I have made the decision that some of your school courses will be shifted over to studies on your royal duties. I understand that you already have a heavy workload so you will be dropping AP Biology and Geography to free up your time."

I pause briefly before speaking to ensure he has nothing else to say, "Of course father."

"Pleas dick just call me dad, even when we are in formal settings." I look over at the guards standing at attention quickly before accepting his embrace. It's always slightly awkward having every moment with my father watched by others but I'm used to it at this point. Once we finished the embrace I quickly headed toward the door, it's already 10:30 and I wanted to get my To-Do list done before lunch.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asks.

"I wanted to head down to the library to grab some books for my new classes." I answer him turning around right as I'm about to leave the room so I can see his face. "is that ok or is there something else you want to talk to me about?"

"No run along, but be careful." I smile and turn once more to face the hall. As I run I dodge out of the way of servants and guests. I reach the library in under ten minutes, and considering the distance I traveled that's a pretty good time.

"Ah, prince Richard is there anything I can do for you this wondrous morning?" the librarian asks looking up from his computer.

"As a matter of fact yes. I'm switching over to some classes on my royal duties and preparing to be king and I wanted to pick up some of the books I would be needing." I respond quickly not wanting to waste his time.

"Do you have any specific books you know you're going to need?"

"No, I was hoping to pick up the basics for the classes and maybe a novel or two that's complementary to the course."

"Ok, lets see royal duties." he mumbles as he types on his computer. After a minute he pulls out a piece of paper and a pen and wrights down the names and call numbers of eight books. " these three should be in the textbook section right next to each other." he says as he points to the top of the list. "These two should be in the nonfiction section, and these three are novels that sound like they would go along with the courses, you'll have to ask your professor to be sure though."

I thank him and set to work finding the books. Just like he said the first three on the list are right next to each other and easy to find. It takes me a bit longer to become accustomed to the way the books in the non-fiction section is set up but after a few minutes within their shelves I have the lay of the land pretty well. The real struggle is finding the last fiction book. I such for almost an hour before spotting it on a cart labeled: returns. Once I have the elusive novel in hand I return to the desk and set the books down barcodes up and put my palace identification number into the key-pad.

"Wow that took you a while didn't it, almost everyones at lunch and my shift ends in thirty minutes." the librarian says, picking up the first book and attempting to scan it out, but the computer makes a loud beep and a red glow from the screen cast onto his face.

"What's wrong?" I asked worried that the textbook can't be checked out for some reason

"Oh, nothing bad. I forgot to switch to the textbook checkout page, it's different from checking out books from the rest of the library or the archives." he moves the mouse around a few times and successfully scans the book out. " I understand why it's necessary but it can sure be a real bother."

Once he finishes checking out the last book to me he speaks up again " you said some of your classes were switching to royal studies right?"

"Ah... yah." I answer confused at why he needs to ask.

"Could you return the books for the classes you're dropping. Our textbooks are always on high demand during the school year." he clears up.

"oh, of course, I'll go grab them right now if thats ok with you." I start stepping back but wait for him to nod before jogging out of the library. As soon as the doors close behind me I start sprinting at full speed. I want to be able to grab the books before his shift ends so he doesnt go into over time.

I slow down a bit as I round the second corner . I scan the halls to be sure I'm in the right place, a smile spreads across my face when I see it. I stop in front of a huge statue of an old time priest that apparently made a great, important change to our society and look around to make sure no one is within earshot or eyeshot. confident that the hall is clear I reach up and press the button imbedded in his outstretched hand.

the tile infant of his feet pops up a few inches with a small pop and I reach down to pull it up the rest of the way. Placing my fingers in the small holes in the side of the stone I pull it up and place it so that it just barely hangs off the edge of the opening. Sliding down careful not to scrape my arms or legs I descend into the underground tunnels that run all through the castle. As soon as I reach the ground I slide the tile back into place. Before I start walking down the dimly lit passage I wait to hear the gears turning and locking the tile into place. as soon as they stop I start racing toward my room.

\-----time skip----- (because I'm lazy)

Once I locate the books I need I sprinted back toward the library. The librarian's shift ends in 15 minutes and I can't take the shortcut through the passage because of the pile of books in my arms. as I get closer and closer to the library I regret not putting my payload in a bag. When I finally reach my destination I struggle to get the door open before finally banging my head against it to grab the librarians attention. I can hear him chuckling as he comes to get the door for me but by the time he has opened it he's all business.

As soon as I see him I say " I'm here, I'm back, I got the books."

"well you made it just in time my shift ends in like three minutes and everyone from lunch will be flowing in here in five." he tells me as he grabs some of the books from my arms and helps me carry them over to his desk. we set them down and he starts scanning them in. " I put all the books you're checking out in a bag and threw in a few bookmarks too." as he says this he slides the bag across the table with one hand while checking in one of my geography textbooks with the other. " wow you sure are lucky my son would kill to get out of biology and geography."

"I think any kid would." by this time he has scanned all of my returns in and is sitting down at his desk. "thank you so much you've been an absolute help today." I grab my books and start heading for the door as he replied,

"No problem just doing my job." I smile at him one last time before turning around and heading out the door.

For what seems like the first time today I actually feel like I can take my time and enjoy the beautiful architecture of the palace. I walk as slowly as I can with the heavy tote bag hanging from my side and simply enjoy my walk. Enjoying that is until I Hear the yelling of young adolescent boys and the clanging of swords coming down the hall. I quickly set my book bag behind one of the statues and go to stand in the middle of the hall.

As the trouble makers rounded the corner my suspicions are confirmed. Damian and Jason are barreling down the halls fighting with what I pray are prop swords. Damian has his back to me as he runs backward parrying Jayson's attacks and making his own. as they come closer I grab Damian by the collar of his hoodie and stop him in his tracks.

"What on earth do you think you're doing." I shout as I attempt to grab his sword from him.

"Having fun, unlike someone I know." Damian growls as he twists out of my grasp. as he does so his sword follows after him and in the proses slashes against my hand, and if the blood pooling on my palm has anything to say the swords are not props.

"Really, fun is chasing each other down the palace halls waving sharpened sword like maniacs?" As I say this I raise my hand allowing the pool of blood to spill to the floor. "have you gone mad?!"

"We can handle ourselves, Grayson." Damion says angrily.

"What do you think we are toddlers?" Jayson adds.

"I know you can handle yourself, if you couldn't both of you would have been dead long ago. My worry is for the unsuspecting palace staff and guests minding their own business not expecting demon children to come hurtling down the halls with weapons in hand." I yell exasperated at their blatant disregard for other people's safety. Plenty of palace staff have ended up in the Gotham central hospital because of these two, and it's a joke amongst the leaders of the other nations that when you come to the Gotham palace you need a doctor on stand by at all time.

"how could we hurt anyone, we specifically waited until lunch so no one would be in the halls."

I sigh pinching the bridge of my nose, sometimes when I was around these to I felt like an old man.'' There are three things wrong with that statement: one, not everyone is at lunch" I gesture between the three of us to prove my point. Damian tries to say something but I just kept on going. "Two, lunch ends in three minutes and that session of tomfoolery clearly was not anywhere near done."

"oh-no he's bringing out the 'fancy' words, can't wait for the fake ones to come too." Jayson says under his breath.

"Third," I say, increasing the volume of my voice " we have a perfectly good sword arena that you can practice in all you want." with this I fling my hand toward the window that luckily has a view right into said arena.

Damian takes a deep breath as if to say something but Jason cuts him off. "they don't let us use real swords in the arena, only the unsharpened practice ones, it's no fun."

" I know for a fact that you brake that rule all the time, why not now?"

"master Philips says if he catches us using swords from outside one more time he'll make us use wooden ones until we turn eighteen." Damian says.

"and you think master Philips wouldn't get angry with you if you fight in the castle instead of the arena."

" oh- no he would be furious if he ever caught us fighting in here." Damian says a smirk growing on his face. '' he just never leaves the arena."

"well him coming here isn't the only way he could find out you two have been breaking his rules." I say looking them both straight in the eyes.

"you wouldn't dare!" Jason growls tightening his grip on the sword.

"I would, but we can make a compromise. you give me the swords and promise not to play dangerous games in the hallways and I'll tell you how Steph uses a sharpened sword in the arena without getting in trouble."

Damian nudges Jason and whispers, " I've always wanted to know how she does that." they look at each other before finally relenting. " fine." Jason and Damian both hand me their swords and look at me intently.

To Build up the drama and annoy them I look around as if we we're spies exchanging world ending information. "grab the training swords with the red and blue hilts she secretly sharpens them." Damian smirks once more and he and Jayson takeoff down the halls.

I watch them to make sure they turn down the hall that leads to the arena and then go to grab my book bag. I positioned it so that it hangs on the side of my body where blood isn't pouring out of my hand.

I'm about to start the journey toward my room again when I remember the drips of blood on the ground. I walked back over to their location and pull the bookmarks out of the bag. one of them has a blank side so I chose that one. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and write a note to the person who happens to come across the spill so they won't get worried.

Super sorry about this, Damian and Jayson were at it again.

\- Prince Dick

I fold the note into a V shape and leave it sitting next to the drops and head back to my room once again. The rest of the walk is as calm as it can be with everyone coming out from lunch. Once I get to my room I place the books down on my desk making sure not to crush any of my projects.

I quickly walk over to my closet and grab some medical supplies. I can goto the physician later but right now I want to look at the books I grabbed, I had been so intent on finding them and hadn't really looked at them too closely. I finish rapping my hand and pull the first book out of the bag. It's a text book from last year titled: the legacy's and duties of the Gotham royals. I started flipping through the book but all the chapters are about something I already know or sounds as boring as watching grass grow. I continue flipping through hoping to find something, I'm about to give up when I see a photo of my adoptive grandmother Martha. I flip back to the beginning of the section to find what it's about.

The Selection:

The selection is a centuries old tradition dating back to before Gotham kingdom gained its independence. During this historic time in the kingdom's life the Heir to the throne would become ready for the next step in their ascent to the throne and would announce a selection. the selections is a time where the Heir could prove to the public that they were worthy and that they could take on the responsibilities of running the kingdom, and gives the public hope of a better future because one of them will be sitting on the throne 50 girls from around Gotham, and sometimes neighboring countries if peace treaties required, would come to the palace to compete for the princes hand in marriage. the prince would be in charge of almost everything that happened during the selection so that the king and the people could see how they performed under the pressure. Themyscira and Mars have had representatives in every selection for the past two-hundred years and the newly formed treaty with Tamaran will include them in any selections that take place on earth, including Gotham, until the treaty is broken. Even with all this history behind the selection it seems that this tradition has come to an end. When Bruce Wayne the current reigning monarch of Gotham came of age to ascend to the throne a selection was being planned, but his regent Alfred Pennyworth saw how uncomfortable he was with the selection and changed the laws so that a selection was optional. As of now we have not heard anything about his Heir Prince Richard having a selection, but historians fear that the tradition of the selection died off with Thomas Wayne.

I put down the textbook and smiled. This is exactly what I need, and I'm confident dad will agree.

\----- time skip 2.0 ----- (again because I'm lazy)

"Are you sure?" Bruce asks for the twelfth time

"yes." I say again, "It says here that the selection is meant to give hope to the people and allow them to gain faith in me. this is exactly what we need."

"dick look" dad says, placing his hand on my shoulder. you don't have to do this. marrying for political gain is not necessary."

"I know it's not, but this is really what I want." I look into his eyes trying to show him that I mean it.

"fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to anyone reading on there phone. I know that the textbook section is kind of annoying to read.


End file.
